Improvement in railroad-car brakes



J. N. WALKER. RAILROAD AR BRAKE.

No. 36,489. Pat nted Sept. 16, 1862.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH N. WALKER, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT lN RAILROAD-CAR BRAKES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 86,489, dated September 16, 1862.

To all whom, it nmy concern:

Be it known that I, J osnrn N. WALKER, of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton, in the State of Ohio, have invented a new and Improved Mode and Machinery for Operating the Brakes of Railroad-Oars; and I do hereby declare that the following-is a full, clear, and

' the endless screw; and Fig. 4,a side elevation of the spring-lever, the spring and plate holdi mg the same together.

The nature of my invention consists in the use of a vibrating hanger embracing an endless screw working into a wheel embraced between two friction flanges, regulated by a double set-screw, and thrown in and out of gear by a vibrating spring-lever, with a hole and slit in the upper end of it, worked by an adjustable ball upon a cord, which cord extends to a convenient point within reach of the engineer of the train, and by means of which the brakemen are dispensed with (avoiding the numerous fatal accidents to that class of persons and their wages) and the engineer can have'instan't control of each and every brake on each and every car of the train,throwing on and off each one separate and independent of each other with any desired amount of friction or strain (and preventing the frightful constantly-recurring accidents by collisions by which so many lives are sacrificed and so much property is being destroyed) by simply pulling a single small cord of the size of the signal-cord.

- To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed todescribe its construction and operation.

I construct the brakes in any of the usual forms, A Abeing the brakes, B the lever,and C the connecting-rod between the brakes and lever, and D the chain for winding them up to a proper strain or friction; but instead of winding up the chain D by hand I make use of the following device, by means of which the motion of the cars is made to perform the work with much more certainty and efficiency than it can be done by hand or any other a: rangement, and free from all jam, jar, or unusual strain. a

The hanger E is permanently bolted above and at the proper distance from the endless screw F, which is on one of the axles of the car. In the hanger E works freely the shaft G for winding the chain I) upon, (when the brakes are being operated.) Upon a lug at the bottom of the fixed hanger E is suspended another hanger, H, which carries the shaft I, the lower end of both the hanger H and the shaft I vibrating freely together backward and forward at the point where they are united with the fixed hanger E on a wrist'and the shaft G by the universal joint J, so that when the chain D is wound up to astrain it will not prevent the wheel and endless screw from be 'ing thrown in and out of gear. The vibrating hanger H has projecting arms,which are made to straddle the endless screw F, so as to re: lieve both the, endless screw and the hanger from any side strain, making the endless screw F to operate on the wheel K as if it was an entering wedge, the one side pressed by the teeth of the wheel and the other side by the arms of the hanger, each counterbalancing the other.

On the lower end of the shaft I is placed a wheel, K, (before referred to,) fitted to work in'thc endless screw F and pressed between two flanges, L L, which flanges are fitted to a square part of the shaft I and have leather or some other elastic substance between them and the wheel to cause uniform friction as the wheel K turns between the flanges L L,which friction is regulated and adjusted (to relieve any undue and cause a proper strain upon the brakes) by the double set-screw M. hen the wheel K is thrown into gear of the endless screw F, operating through the shaft I, it is made to wind up the chain D to a full strain on the brakes, at which time the wheel K slips round between the'flang'es L L, keeping up the strain and friction till the cars are stopped.

For throwing the wheel and endless screw K and F into and outof gear I make use of the following device: 011 the opposite end of the small crank-shaft N is a lever, P, inthe upper end of which lever is a hole or round opening for the cord R R, carrying the adjustable metallic ball, (fastened with a set-screw,) to pass freely through each way. Downward from the hole-is a slit or opening large enough to allow the cord R R to pass freel y through, but not large enough to permit the ball Qto pass. The lower end of the lever 1? is acted upon by the'spring S, (see Fig. 4,) so as to force it to assume an angle of forty-five degrees from and after it has passed. the central upright point when being moved backward and forward in the-direction of the arrow, which movement, operating through the crank-shaft N and the connecting-rod O (which has a wrist at each end) and the vibrating hanger H, throws the wheel and endless screw K and F in and out of gear, as the case may be. To enable the engineer of the train to move the several levers on different cars backward and forward, as before indicated, the cordR R is extended to some convenient point on the locomotive. \Vhen the ball Q, by means of the cord R R is pulled in the opposite direction from that toward which -the lever P leans, it encounters the slit or narrow opening in the lever before described and cannot be pulled any farther without throwing the lever over past the central upright point, when the spring S forces it to assume the position of an inclined plane at auangle offorty-fivedegrees,up which the-ball Q slides and through the hole at the top, passing on freelyv and permitting other balls adjusted on the same cord, R R, to operate other levers and their connecting-brakes.

' What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The hanger H, shaft I, operating upon the universal joint J, and wheel K, combined with the endless screw H, in manner and for the purpose herein described.

2. The worm-wheel K, combined with its two flanges, L L, and the double set-screw M, 

